If I know that your book has sloppy summarizing and outright errors in the areas in which I have some knowledge, it’s pretty damn hard for me to trust you on subjects where I don’t. Most recent culprit: The Magic Circle of Rudolph II: Alchemy and Astrology in Renaissance Prague, by Peter Marshall. Too bad, because I had hoped to enjoy this one.
On the plus side, two qualified recommendations. The first is Deborah E. Harkness’ John Dee’s Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy and the End of Nature. Some solid research, with some thought-provoking arguments on Dee and what she calls “the Book of Nature.” Although there are shortcomings in Harkness’ rather narrow focus, the book is nevertheless worth reading.
The second is John Dee’s Occultism: Magical Exaltation Through Powerful Signs, by György Szönyi. While I found occasional sloppiness in his reading of the Dee mss, and disagree with his major thesis in regard to Dee and the idea of exaltatio–and you would think that not buying an author’s major premise to be a deal-killer–I found his research into and summarizing of the major hermetic, Neoplatonist, and magical forerunners of Dee’s world to be so valuable I am also giving this book a qualified recommendation.
